Efficient customer service with a Zylinc/
Microsoft OCS solution.
PR electronics receives approx 3200 calls monthly, which their receptionists should transfer to relevant employees efficiently.
Why choose a Microsoft OCS integrated switchboard from Zylinc?
PR electronics had a fifteen year old, analogue switchboard with 110 devices connected. All incoming calls to the company were in an old-fashioned way forwarded to the relevant employees' local phone number - however, without the receptionist knowing whether the employee was available or not. Very often receptionists transferred calls that were unanswered by employees, and the receptionist had to ask customers to try to call employees directly on their mobile phones.
According to PR electronics' IT Manager, Steen Jensen, there were three main reasons to replace the company's old switchboard:
- improving customer service by transferring calls directly to employees located within or outside the company
- minimize human latency when getting in touch with colleagues in subsidiaries
- cost savings on telephony by introducing IP telephony
Steen Jensen had already invested in a Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) solution. Next step was to find a switchboard that was able to integrate with Microsoft OCS. This is also the reason why PR electronics invested in Zylinc's flexible and user-friendly switchboard, ZyCall Switch.
"I have been looking for a switchboard that is able to run Microsoft OCS and integrate with Microsoft Exchange, making it possible to view our employees presence and their calendars"
- In my view, Zylinc's switchboard is the only one at the market, which can handle Microsoft OCS that way; hence we chose to invest in the solution, explains Steen Jensen, IT Manager at PR electronics.
Superior customer service with a clear employee overview
Long-lasting customer relations are important for PR electronics; hence the company aims at providing superior customer service. This is also why customers cannot call PR electronics' sales representatives directly, because no customer calls should be in vain if a sales representative e.g. has forgotten to record a message when he/she is on vacation.
"In our view superior customer service is giving customers a personal experience and service, when they call our company. Thus, we will never invest in an automatic answering machine where customers have to press 1, 2, etc. in order to reach a specific department in our company"
Zylinc's switchboard enables our receptionists to help our customers efficiently, because it gives the receptionists a clear overview of available employees. They are also able to make direct transfer of calls via OCS, e.g. for external sales representatives' mobile phones, says Steen Jensen.
Previously the company's receptionists were unable to transfer calls directly, and they now have a more advanced switchboard than before. However, the six receptionists at PR electronics' Danish headquarter was soon accustomed with the new switchboard from Zylinc, and they are particularly enthusiastic about the advanced search functions in the switchboard.
The possibility of searching for employees in the sales department, and simultaneously having access to their calendars, helps the receptionists finding information on employees' availability. Receptionists can also view employee's presence status, which is integrated in Zylinc's switchboard.
Steen Jensen explains that PR electronics are planning to minimize the use of mobile phones and prioritize Microsoft OCS globally. So far, the company has installed Zylinc's switchboard in Denmark, but they expect to deploy the solution in their subsidiaries in Sweden, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, USA and China.
Installation and technical information
PR electronics was one of the first companies in Denmark that invested in a Microsoft OCS / Zylinc solution. As a technological first-mover it is natural to explore challenges. The dialogue between Zylinc and PR electronics has therefore been very close.
PR electronics already had a Microsoft Exchange server, a Microsoft SQL server, a Microsoft OCS 2007 R2, and two Mediation servers. Therefore the installation of Zylinc's switchboard, ZyCall Switch, only required that PR electronics was able to route the SIP-based traffic.
The set-up of ZyCall Switch is not a single point of failure solution; hence PR electronics will not lose any calls if ZyCall Switch should fail, as all calls will be routed directly to the OCS.
Zylinc installs the switchboard without making any radical changes in PR electronics existing systems. SIP runs via TCP/IP, and Zylinc's Presence integration against MS OCS is able to run via TCP or TLS. The Presence and Calendar integration are based on getting information directly from the server and storing information in the central MS SQL database. PR electronics runs OCS in-house, but receive calls via an IP telephony provider (hosted telephony); however this has no influence on the installation of Zylinc's switchboard.